


The Infinite Loop of Love

by magicsophicorn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-14
Packaged: 2018-04-09 09:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4342973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicsophicorn/pseuds/magicsophicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During an accidental trip to the future Emma sees something she <i>really</i> shouldn't have, and back in the present she's having a hard time unseeing it…</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Infinite Loop of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Swan Queen Week Day 3 - Time Travel

"Emma!"

Regina hurried after the flash of blonde hair and red leather in front of her as the Sheriff disappeared round the corner. She was sure that Emma had heard her, so she had no idea why the blonde was essentially running away from her.

As she rounded the corner Regina scanned the street but could see no sign of Emma.

She sighed.

It wasn't that important anyway, she would just text Emma later.

\-------------------

"Mom! I'm home!"

Henry's shout echoed through the house and Regina smiled fondly.

"In the kitchen, Henry."

He bounded in like an excited puppy and, not for the first time, Regina was struck by the resemblance to his birth mother.

Speaking of whom…

"Where's Emma? Did you forget to invite her round for dinner tonight?"

Henry leaned over and plucked a tomato from the salad she was preparing before answering.

"No I remembered, but she said she was busy with work though so she couldn't come."

Regina's hands stilled. She was surprised by how disappointed she felt. For various reasons she hadn't really seen Emma much, or now that she thought about it, at all, over the past couple of days, and Regina realised she missed just chatting to her.

Oh well, it wasn't the end of the world, she supposed. She would no doubt see Emma tomorrow. The Sherriff had been bringing her lunch every Wednesday for the past few months and it was easily the highlight of Regina's working week.

\-------------------

Regina scribbled furiously on the report in front of her in red pen. She was in a foul mood and couldn't quite work out why. She glanced up at the clock and immediately did a double take. No wonder she was irritable, it was 2.45pm and she hadn't eaten lunch yet.

Regina frowned. Emma usually arrived at 1pm sharp, food being the sole reason Emma would ever be on time for anything. Regina pulled out her phone to see if she had missed a text or a call from Emma to cancel.

Nothing.

Worry began to brew in the pit of her stomach. This was unlike Emma. What if something had happened to her?

Regina dialled the Sherriff's station and tried not to imagine the worst. After three rings someone picked up.

"Hello Storybrooke Sherriff's Station."

"David, it's Regina. Is Emma there?"

"Yeah she's just eating lunch, hold on."

Regina felt relief wash over her as muffled sounds of movement echoed down the line. At least Emma was okay, even if she hadn't had the courtesy to cancel. But then they'd never explicitly arranged these lunches, they jus kind of…happened.

"Ah, um, sorry Regina. She's a bit busy at the moment, she's working over lunch." David sounded very uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Is there something I can help you with instead?"

"No, thank you David, you've told me more than enough."

Regina ended the call without letting him say another word.

There was no doubt in her mind now that Emma was avoiding her. She had thought it several times over the past few days but had just told herself she was being insecure. She couldn't avoid the truth now though. What hurt the most was that she didn't have the slightest idea why Emma was avoiding her. As far as she knew she hadn't done or said anything that would have upset her, and Henry hadn't said anything about it. It just didn't make sense. They had been getting on so well lately, what had changed all of a sudden?

Well, Regina decided, she wasn't going to let Emma Swan get away with this. 

Emma had fought so tirelessly for them to become friends, now Regina was damn well going to fight for them to remain that way.

\-------------------

Regina was immensely satisfied by the look of pure terror on Emma's face when she poofed right into the middle of her bedroom.

"Regina! What the hell? You scared the crap out of me! What are you doing here?"

Regina planted her feet firmly and stood with her hands on her hips, determined to get the truth.

"You've been avoiding me Emma Swan, and I want to know why."

Emma looked down at her feet then, pulling her knees up to her chest as she sat on the bed, and continuing to look everywhere but at Regina as she replied.

"No I haven't. I've just been busy, that's all."

"Bullshit," Regina spat, and Emma looked up in shock. When she met Regina's eyes she quickly looked away again.

"You can barely even look at me Emma! Did I… Have I… Done something wrong?"

Regina hated the pleading, hurt, tone in her voice. She hated showing weakness, but she had to know the truth, and despite everything she still trusted Emma not to use her weakness against her.

Emma groaned and hid her face in her hands.

"No, you didn't," she mumbled, "But… I kind of… might have done…" 

Regina felt a little bit guilty about how relieved Emma's words made her feel. She could deal with whatever it was that Emma had done. It couldn't possibly be worse than the last time Emma had accidentally done something that had hurt her, after all.

"Spit it out Emma," Regina said in a tone of voice she was more used to using with Henry when he was younger, "what have you done this time?"

Emma removed her hands from her face but still couldn't quite look at Regina.

"Well… You know how we posted a permanent guard at Zelena's time portal because it kept randomly opening up again every so often?"

Regina felt her stomach knot in fear.

"What did you do?" She asked, much more forcefully than last time.

"Well… Three days ago the guard didn't check in when he was supposed to so I went to investigate, and I might have got sucked into the portal… Again…"

Emma said all this very quickly, as if somehow that would make things better.

Regina could hardly breathe through her anger and fear.

"So that's why you've been avoiding me? Because you went back in time and somehow managed to ruin my life _again_ and you didn't want to tell me? What did you change this time?"

Regina's voice was low and cold with fury, and Emma finally, _finally_ , looked at her then, her eyes wide.

"No, no Regina, I promise you I haven't changed anything in the past."

"How can you be so sure? Surely you know by now that even the tiniest change can have enormous consequences?"

Emma looked away again, the uncomfortable expression back on her face.

"I know," she said slowly, "because I didn't go to the past. The portal took me to the future."

Regina blinked in surprise. She hadn't known that was possible. But then they'd all thought that the time portal itself was impossible in the first place, so that really didn't mean much.

Regina felt her anger and fear slip away, to be replaced by confusion.

"So… Then why has going to the future made you avoid me? I don't understand."

A furious red tint exploded on Emma's cheeks and down her neck.

"I… Uh… Might have seen something in the future that I definitely should not have seen… And now I don't really know how to be around you anymore…"

Regina sighed in frustration.

"Emma, I refuse to let something which may or may not happen in the future ruin our friendship _now_. So you're going to tell me exactly what it was that you saw so that we can move past this like mature adults. I know that's a difficult concept for you."

Suddenly an awful thought occurred to Regina.

"Wait, was I… Will I… Give in to the darkness again?" She asked softly. That would certainly explain why Emma no longer wanted to be around her. But if that was the case then perhaps knowing it would help her avoid it. She never wanted to be that person again. Never. She'd worked too hard and come too far.

As if sensing her distress, Emma was suddenly up on her feet, standing right in front of Regina.

"No, Regina, no," she said softly, reaching out and cupping Regina's cheek with her palm, "you're still a hero in the future, don't worry."

As soon as she finished speaking Emma yanked her hand away as if she'd been burned, a fleeting look of horror on her face before she turned around so that her back was towards Regina.

Regina wanted to scream in frustration. What the hell was making Emma act like this? But before she could ask again, Emma spoke, although she didn't turn back around to face Regina.

"Okay there's no good way to tell you this, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it. So please don't interrupt me until I'm done."

Emma paused, and Regina nodded before remembering Emma couldn't see her.

"Okay, go on," she said, her throat suddenly very dry. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Emma might be about to say.

"When I went through the portal and ended up back in Storybrooke I didn't realise what had happened at first, I thought I just hadn't gone anywhere. So I went to go and find you to tell you about it, and I let myself into your house with the spare key from the plant pot, which, yeah, in hindsight I really should not have done. So anyway, I heard noises in the study so I went in and…" She swallowed audibly. "I walked in on us, I mean future-you and future-me, having… having sex."

There was another pause, longer this time.

"Okay I'm done, you can say something now."

Regina really didn't know what to say.

This was not a scenario that had crossed her mind. She felt a strange mix of emotions; shock, jealousy at her future self, surprise for feeling jealous, and then overwhelming sadness that the thought of a relationship with her had clearly upset Emma so much.

"So that's why you can't even look at me now then?" She said, unable to keep the hurt from her voice, "Is the thought of sleeping with me really that disgusting to you?"

Emma quickly span around to face her.

"What? No! That's not what I'm… Fuck, Regina, I'm having the opposite problem! Now that I've seen it I can't stop thinking about it! I can't look at you anymore without wanting to kiss you…"

Regina felt her heart speed up and her breath get shallow. Right now she was finding that she was having the exact same problem.

She opened her mouth to say something, but instead found herself stepping forward and crashing her lips against Emma's.

The kiss was frantic, both women tearing at each other's clothes within seconds.

Regina pushed Emma back down on to her bed. Their lips parted for a moment as they looked into each other's eyes. Regina felt like she was seeing Emma for the first time, and remembering the first time they met she suddenly wondered why it had taken them so long to get to this point.

"Do you think we've created a paradox?" Emma asked suddenly.

Regina just blinked in confusion.

"I mean, like, if seeing us together in the future is what got us together now, then that's like an infinite loop of cause and effect…"

Regina stared at Emma in disbelief.

"Emma, I currently have my hand inside your bra, do you really think now is the most appropriate moment to discuss theories of time travel?"

Emma grinned as if she was about to make some kind of inappropriate joke.

"Shut up, Miss Swan," Regina said, and kissed her again before she could utter another word.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, please feel free to send me prompts here or on [tumblr](http://magicsophicorn.tumblr.com). :)


End file.
